Downing knows Cup double can kickstart West Ham recovery

Wednesday's Capital One semi-final first leg at Manchester City follows today's FA Cup fixture with Nottingham Forest and West Ham have a potentially galvanising few days ahead.

"Manchester City is going to be very tough," said Downing, who won the League Cup with Middlesbrough in 2004. "They could probably put two XIs out and probably win the League with both teams. But I think we have a really good chance, we played really well against them in the second half here after showing them too much respect in the first."